Cross-Border M&A: Doing Deals in Latin America

Rodrigo Dominguez Sotomayor, Partner at White & Case LLP

Most US buyers approach Latin America M&A the same way they do a domestic deal — optimize the process, close fast, move on. That approach gets deals killed.

Rodrigo Dominguez Sotomayor, Partner at White & Case LLP, has spent 25 years closing transactions across every major Latin America market. In this episode, he walks through what actually determines outcomes: antitrust consent timelines, labor regimes that make post-close restructuring expensive, and the relationship dynamics that can unwind a billion-dollar deal a week before signing.

What You'll Learn In This Episode:

How a PE fund lost a billion-dollar deal over 2% — and why it was avoidable
Why LatAm antitrust approvals can take up to nine months and how to plan around them
What no employment-at-will actually costs you post-close
Why showing up to a LatAm auction without reps & warranties insurance is a disadvantage
How to negotiate with family founders when price isn't what closes the deal
Why 80% of Latin America deals now run through auctions

Your standard diligence process will miss things that kill LatAm deals — statutory severance you didn't model, title searches that go back a hundred years, antitrust consent timelines that block close for months, auctions where R&W insurance is already expected.

Running diligence on a LatAm target right now? The M&A Science Hub has two resources built directly from this episode — the LATAM Diligence Delta Checklist and the Latin America M&A Entry Playbook — plus an AI tutor trained on 400+ practitioner conversations you can pressure-test your current deal against.

Members get access before the episode goes public. → Access inside the Intelligence Hub — members only.

This episode is sponsored by DealRoom

Stop juggling six different tools to run one deal. DealRoom brings pipeline management, diligence tracking, document sharing, and team collaboration into one platform. Purpose-built for M&A teams who need to move fast without losing control. request your demo today: https://hubs.ly/Q03ZMvQX0

____________________

Episode Chapters

[00:04:26] Rodrigo's background: 25 years across Latin America M&A

[00:06:57] How a cross-border acquisition actually starts

[00:10:17] Bilateral deals and family-owned businesses

[00:12:52] Reading the room: when not to push on numbers

[00:14:12] The billion-dollar deal that fell apart over 2%

[00:20:02] Antitrust consent regimes across LatAm

[00:29:49] The union leader story

[00:27:14] Labor, employment, and statutory severance

[00:34:04] Reps & warranties insurance: now standard in LatAm

[00:38:44] Auction vs. bilateral: the 80/20 split

[00:44:01] FinTech opportunity in Latin America

[00:48:05] NVCA forms and deal documentation

[00:52:48] Post-close integration: what actually determines success

[00:55:51] Craziest Thing in M&A

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(417)

The Nordic Compounder Playbook: How Lagercrantz Bought 90 Companies and Never Sold One

Jörgen Wigh, CEO of Lagercrantz Group Jörgen Wigh has been CEO of Lagercrantz Group (STO: LAGR-B) for over 20 years. In that time he completed 90+ acquisitions, built a portfolio of 85 niche B2B compa...

28 Maj 42min

M&A Integration Technology: What Actually Works

Jim Buckley, VP M&A Integration at Coursera | Todd Manley, VP of Corp Dev Integration at Intel | Carey Pugh is Sr. Director, M&A Corporate Integration at Ansys | Mahesh Ganesan, Sr. Director, M&A Inte...

21 Maj 50min

Partner Before You Buy: The Pre-Acquisition Strategy Corp Dev Teams Skip

Tomer Stavitsky is SVP and Chief Corporate Development Officer at Omnicell (NASDAQ: OMCL) Corp dev teams treat M&A and partnerships as separate tracks, but Tomer Stavitsky looks at them holistically. ...

14 Maj 52min

How M&A Turns a Chemical Company Into a Tech Business

Chandradev Mehta, SVP Strategy and Business Development at Hexion Inc. Chandradev Mehta, SVP Strategy and Business Development at Hexion Inc., breaks down how a commodity chemical company uses M&A to ...

7 Maj 53min

CPG Exit Strategy: How to Build a Consumer Brand Strategics Will Acquire | Keith Levy Part 2

Keith Levy, Operating Partner at Sonoma Brands Capital Most consumer brand founders think about exit as an event. Keith Levy thinks about it as a design requirement. In the second of two episodes, Kei...

30 Apr 57min

CPG Due Diligence: The Operator Framework Behind a $1B Exit | Keith Levy Part 1

Keith Levy, Operating Partner at Sonoma Brands Capital Keith Levy backed an exit of just under $1B and a $400M exit using the same five-pillar framework, and he starts with the founder every time. Fi...

23 Apr 53min

400 Acquisitions and a Failed Process: What Happens When You Don't Integrate

Matt James, EVP, CFO & Chief Acquisition Officer at Oakbridge Insurance Roll-up platforms that skipped real integration are getting exposed when they go to market. Buyers want proof of organic growth,...

16 Apr 58min

M&A Roll-Up Playbook: The IRR Framework That Replaced Budgets at Zayo | Dan Caruso (Part 2)

Dan Caruso, Managing Director, Caruso Ventures; Founding CEO of Zayo Group This is Part 2 of our conversation with Dan Caruso, founder and former CEO of Zayo Group. Be sure to start with Part 1. It co...

9 Apr 1h 5min